Benfica edges Gil Vicente for sixth straight win

Lisbon, Portugal (SportsNetwork.com) - Benfica secured its sixth successive win by notching a 1-0 victory over Gil Vicente to remain six points clear at the top of the Portuguese Liga.

The match pitted top against bottom as Gil Vicente entered the fixture without a win in 13 previous league contests, but the club made things tough on the leaders, who were only able to breach the Gil Vicente defense on the half-hour mark.

Maxi Pereira sent a looping shot off the post that rebounded into the path of Nicolas Gaitan, who fired home the loose ball to separate the sides.

Gil Vicente then finished the match with 10 men after Diogo Viana was sent off in stoppage time, leaving the club four points from 17th-place Academica.

FC Porto coasted to a 4-0 win over Setubal to keep pace with Benfica as the club got goals from four different sources.

Porto then put the game to rest in the final few minutes with goals from Yacine Brahimi and Danilo, giving the club nine wins from its first 14 games.

Braga climbed into third place after securing a 3-0 home win against Pacos Ferreira that saw the hosts score all three of their goals in the first half, including two in the first 30 minutes as Felipe Pardo and Eder each found the net.

Guimaraes is level with Braga on 28 points after slipping to a 1-0 defeat at Estoril, which used a 73rd-minute goal from Kleber to tally a fourth win on the season.

Sporting Lisbon rounds out the top five after escaping Nacional with a 1-0 win courtesy of Carlos Mane's goal in the 50th minute, while Sporting had to survive the final 12 minutes of the contest with 10 men after Adrien Silva picked up a second yellow card.

Academica and Penafiel played to a 1-1 draw in a battle of bottom-half teams after the two sides traded goals in the second half, Roberto scored the lone goal in Arouca's 1-0 win over Maritimo, Moreirense claimed a 1-0 win over Boavista with a goal from Andre Simoes eight minutes into the match, while Rio Ave and Belenenses played out a 0-0 stalemate.